President-elect Donald Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, on Sunday announced the launch of a memecoin called “Melania Meme” (MELANIA) on the Solana blockchain.
With two big token launches, all the attention was on the Trump family over the weekend.
CoinGecko data shows that the token’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) currently surpasses $10 billion, while its market cap exceeds $1.5 billion despite the fact that it was just launched in less than 10 hours.
Massive Speculation
MELANIA is trading at around $10.72, with trading volumes reaching $4.6 billion as of the latest data. The token has so far secured listings on several cryptocurrency exchanges like MEXC, BingX, Gate, and Bitget. Bybit is also listing on its futures market on Monday.
MELANIA launched less than 48 hours after the debut of Official Trump (TRUMP), a Solana-based memecoin that itself saw a dramatic rise, reaching a $14.5 billion market cap before settling at $11.7 billion following MELANIA’s release.
The Official Melania Meme is live!
You can buy $MELANIA now. https://t.co/mgSwtOQYnq
FUAfBo2jgks6gB4Z4LfZkqSZgzNucisEHqnNebaRxM1P pic.twitter.com/o2V9BQx2zG
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 19, 2025
Yet, the token and its launch have gone down in history as one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies introduced by an individual who was set to lead the world’s largest economy in two days.
Trump’s official meme token is currently valued at approximately $60, with a slight recovery from the recent decline.
According to Melania Meme’s official website, the token allocation for the MELANIA project is structured as follows: 30% of the total supply will be allocated to the Treasury, 25% will go to the project team and will be subject to a vesting schedule, 25% is reserved for community members, and 15% will be made available for public distribution.
The token allocation is different from Official Trump’s token distribution. As detailed in its official site, 80% of the TRUMP token supply is reserved for entities linked to the Trump Organization and only 20% is available for public investors and liquidity.
Many blockchain experts pointed out that the two projects are handled by two separate teams. According to Coinbase’s chief of product business operations, Conor Grogan, stated that the team behind the TRUMP token appeared to be “professional market makers” while the one behind MELANIA “looks like college kids.”
Cygaar, a blockchain engineer, noted that the Melania Memet’s website was poorly set up, lacking Cloudflare protection with “some half-assed frontend code.” In an earlier post, the expert said Official Trump’s website was well executed with proper security measures and setup in place.
Ethical Scrutiny
Trump’s meme coin came as a thrilling surprise, but Melania’s token has left the community questioning the motives behind the whirlwind events of the past 48 hours. These launches have faced criticism especially as Trump’s inauguration is only less than 24 hours away.
Zack Guzmán, the founder of Web3 media outlet Coinage, noted that the Constitution prohibits the president from receiving any profits or benefits from foreign governments without congressional consent.
However, launching memecoins before presidency could be a strategic move to mitigate these legal risks
Trump and his wife have explored various non-fungible token drops over the past couple of years. They have reportedly used different companies and teams for their NFT projects, which he suggests may serve to distance their personal financial gains from the direct sale of these tokens, thus complicating any allegations of violating the laws.
The Trumps have added billions to their net worths following the recent token launches. Many crypto community members accused them of greed and potential illegal activities. Critiques include dilution fears and claims that these actions could taint Trump’s credibility in the crypto market.
“Rich Dad Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki isn’t a fan of the TRUMP coin. He stressed in a recent post that he prefers old-school investments like Bitcoin, gold, and silver.
According to Kiyosaki, the meme coin is part of a bigger problem he sees in the crypto world, which he sees as a “farce” instead of the promising future it once was.
